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Atlas of Jordan

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Myriam Ababsa

Chapter six - Jordan’s Population and Demographic Trends

Population Figures and Data: a Political Issue

Françoise De Bel-Air

Texte intégral

1The Department of Statistics (DoS) was created within the Ministry of the Interior in 1949. The DoS is thus one of the first governmental agencies created after the establishment of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The ‘General Statistics Act’ No. 24 of 1950 and its amendment of 2003 entrust it with the organization of a census every ten years and require that it collects, verifies, analyzes and publishes statistical data on the economy, society and demography in Jordan, to be used by policymakers, planners and researchers. The DoS is also the sole governmental representative which centralizes the collection, analysis and publication of statistics; its collaboration is essential if these operations are carried out by any other organization, be it public or private, local, foreign or international. In Jordan, the other data-producing agencies are the numerous public and private research centres as well as the statistics departments of government agencies (ministries etc.). The production of statistical data is plentiful, varied and widely supported by the many international organizations or institutions operating in partnership with the DoS.

2To date, five general censuses of population and housing have been organized: in 1952, 1961, 1979, 1994 and 2004. The latest two censuses were designed, conducted and evaluated according to standardized protocols developed by the United Nations. These two operations do not cover some aspects, such as economic activity or fertility, which were covered in sample surveys. Four surveys of family and fertility have been conducted in Jordan in the framework of international programs of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in 1990, 1997, 2002 and 2007. These investigations are based on globally standardised objectives and methodology.

3Before 1994, technical, and especially political, uncertainties affected data quality (mobility from one bank of the Jordan River to the other, conflicts concerning the definition of the national population etc.). The DoS estimates the coverage of the 2004 census at 95.9%.

© Presses de l’Ifpo, 2013

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